Goodbye
by alohamora080
Summary: "I—just—where—honestly, where is good in goodbye?"


20 June 1998

Cho gave an exhausted sigh, as she plunked herself down on the edge of her bed, silently counting the numerous pairs of socks she had just finished laundering. Her eyes flickered across her small flat's nearly empty sitting room, brows furrowing ever-so-slightly. In all her years of living in the cozy, little apartment, she had never seen it so empty, so deflated, so…morose. Her breath caught in her throat, as, for the first time, doubts began assailing her mind. And, she couldn't help but wonder whether her decision to leave London—her country, her _home_—was the right one.

She mentally shook herself. Of course it was. For, what did she have left in the dismal place, really? Her parents were long gone, casual victims of the war. Her friends…well, they would forget her, eventually…

As if on cue, there was a knock on the door. Cho reluctantly dragged herself to her feet, hesitating slightly as her fingers closed around the doorknob, silently contemplating whether or not she ought to allow her guest into her house. Her portkey left in just over half-an-hour. Finally, however, she exhaled heavily, slowly tugging the door open.

The door had barely opened before there was a flash of reddish-blonde, and something petite and warm had grabbed her around the middle, sobbing violently into her shoulder. Gazing wearily down at the head of strawberry-colored curls, Cho quickly shut the door before prising the other girl's arms away from hers. "Marietta—"

"Why are you doing this?" Marietta wanted to know, tears falling down her cheeks in earnest. She looked up at Cho with large, blue eyes, her expression one of reproach. "Cho, you can't just get up one morning and decide to leave—"

"It didn't happen in one morning, Marietta," Cho said shortly, strolling past the fair-haired girl and into her bedroom, where three fully-packed trunks lay. Quickly, Cho scooped up the numerous pairs of neatly-folded socks and emptied them into the last of the trunks, snapping it closed. Dusting her hands, she turned back to Marietta, who was watching her in disbelief. "What?" Cho asked tiredly.

"What do you mean 'It didn't happen in one morning'?" Marietta demanded, crossing her arms and facing Cho with an incredulous expression on her face. "Do you mean to say that you've been planning on skipping town since—?"

"The end of the war," Cho told her, drawing her wand. "Locomotor trunks."

Marietta jumped out of the way, as four large suitcases nearly knocked her over in their haste to enter the adjacent sitting room. Cho followed them out, Marietta still clucking quizzically at her heels.

For a moment, neither of them said a word, and Cho almost believed that Marietta had given up. But, then— "Cho, please…please don't leave."

Cho bit her lip, whirling around to meet Marietta's distraught gaze. "Why not?" Cho asked quietly. "Marietta, there is _nothing_ left for me here—"

"What are you talking about?" Marietta cried. "You have a perfectly fine job at the Ministry, you have a house, you have money—"

"It's nothing like that—"

"I know you're still hurting over your parents, but Cho, you'll learn to move past—"

"It's not about—"

"What is about then? Is it about Cedric—or—or Harry—?"

"No—"

"Cho, I've told you a million times!" Marietta wailed, seizing Cho's shoulders and giving them a gentle shake. "You could have any boy in this universe if you just tried!"

"This isn't about boys, though," Cho said coolly, jerking herself out of Marietta's grip. "See? This is why I didn't tell you until today! You—you just don't understand!"

"I understand—"

"No, you don't," Cho snapped, glaring at her friend. "You just don't! Merlin's beard, Marietta, you traveled all the way to Greece to meet up with some famous healer, just so that you could get rid of that stupid word on your face!" Cho exclaimed in frustration, flinging her hands up into the air. "How could _you_ possibly understand?"

She regretted the outburst as soon as it left her mouth, for the hurt look on Marietta's face made her feel far guiltier than she could ever admit. The double-crossing incident, back in their sixth year, had resulted in the word "Sneak" being emblazoned across Marietta's face. And it had always been a touchy subject between them. It had distressed Marietta beyond comparison, and, suddenly, Cho felt terrible for throwing it back in her face.

"Oh, Marietta," Cho whispered, eyes wide. "I—I'm so sorry—I didn't mean—"

"Forget it," Marietta sniffed, turning away in an unfortunately obvious attempt to covertly wipe the moisture from her eyes. Then, she swiveled back around to face Cho, eyes blazing. "All right, fine. Maybe you have a point. Maybe I don't understand." She straightened, squaring her shoulders and scrutinizing Cho carefully. "But, Cho, you aren't exactly making things easy for me. You—you haven't even bothered giving me an explanation! How am I supposed to understand if you don't want me to?"

Cho simply gaped at her, slightly shocked to hear such wisdom from her somewhat feather-headed friend. Marietta seemed to notice this, for she instantaneously seized the lapse in Cho's retaliation.

"I wake up this morning," she explained tremulously, "and, there's a letter waiting for me. From you. I open it—and—and—" she stopped abruptly, her eyes welling up with tears once again.

A twinge of sympathy pricked Cho's heart, and, before Marietta could continue, Cho reached forward and embraced her, letting the smaller girl's tears splatter the front of her robes without a single complaint. Perhaps she owed Marietta this one day of grieving. Perhaps the other girl had cared more for Cho than Cho had ever bothered appreciating.

"Listen," Cho said softly, rubbing Marietta's back soothingly as, after several long moments, she pulled away. "Listen, I—I need this, Marietta. I just—I want to start over. It took _weeks_ to convince Bennett to let me leave the department, and…well, I really—I really don't want to miss this opportunity…all right?"

There were several beats of silence, in which Marietta said nothing, simply staring down at her feet. But, at long last, she looked up, and Cho watched with bated breath as she determinedly lifted a watery smile to her face. "All right, Cho. If…if it makes you happy, then—then I think you should go for it."

Cho stared at her. "You do?"

"Yes." Marietta nodded, her smile widening. "Besides, Australia's a brilliant place—your kind of place. You'll like it, I'm sure."

Cho beamed at her.

"Just—" Marietta hesitated, a familiar, hysterical glint in her startlingly blue eyes. "Just don't forget me."

"Never," Cho confirmed, reaching forward to pat Marietta's hand. "I—I'd—I could never—"

"Good." Marietta's lips twitched upward, as she squeezed Cho's hand, several more tears cascading down her pink cheeks. "I—just—where—honestly, where is _good_ in goodbye?"

Cho gave a strangled laugh, as the steadily growing lump in her throat seemed to reach its maximum size. "It's there, somewhere," she assured Marietta, smiling forcibly. Then, with a deep, shuddering sigh, she got to her feet, drawing her wand once again. "Well, I…I guess this is it." She stared at Marietta, whose face had suddenly gone blank. "My portkey leaves in twenty minutes. Say goodbye to Wayne for me—"

"I'm coming," Marietta declared, jumping to her feet to her feet, as well. "To drop you off."

Cho immediately shook her head. "Oh, no, Marietta, you don't have to—"

"Come off it," Marietta scoffed, rolling her still-puffy eyes. "Do you honestly think you can lug four trunks and three bags onto the Knight Bus and into the Ministry by yourself? Please…Cho, just…just let me do this last thing for you."

Cho gazed at her for a long moment. Then, her face broke into a warm grin. "All right."

* * *

This is my entry for MadHatterBellatrix10's "Goodbye" Challenge. I chose to write about friends, Cho and Marietta. For those of you who don't know my headcanon very well, Cho left for Australia shortly after the end of the Second Wizarding War because she wanted to start over. Come on, let's give the poor girl some love! :) For all the tears and everything, she really wasn't that bad. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this!


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